I'm pretty sure that applies to a lot of people, yourself included. For example, how often is your custom built MythTV box on? Why didn't you go with a much more power efficient box? Why do you have any type of media playback device for your TV in the first place? No one "needs" TV, or internet or other things we all use in our daily lives, but they do bring enjoyment (for you both in watching, and in building the devices), and raise our quality of life. Even the device that brought all of us here "needlessly" consumes energy in our cars, requiring a powered amplifier, and other devices that reduce the fuel efficiency of the vehicle. But we are here because we all at one time or another wanted to enjoy music while on the go.

WiFi for me is one of those quality of life things. I wake up in the morning, and can pick up my (very power efficient) iPad, and read about the current world news, without getting out of bed. The alternative to this a decade ago was a much more power hungry laptop. Two decades ago, and it would be a newspaper, with all the power consumption associated with cutting down a tree, turning into paper, and so on.

Overall, my total energy consumption has dropped dramatically since moving to California. I walk to work frequently, something that wasn't possible with my living situation in Austin. Due to the climate here, my heating/cooling system is on much less then it would be in Austin. I no longer even have a TV, and the associated home theater equipment drawing power.

I don't mean to turn this into an attack (and sorry if it comes across that way), but somewhere there is a line between quality of life and energy conservation. We could all do more to conserve energy, but where do we stop? Should we all just give up the modern conveniences that electricity and other sources of energy brings us? Very few people have that bar so high, but some do believe that. It's all a balance, and I do believe strongly in not wasting a ton of energy. I just think it's easier today to tackle larger energy issues, then worrying about and micromanaging the power consumption of a small consumer electronic device. Promoting the switch to more efficient lighting is still one of the best ways for a household to dramatically reduce their energy consumption. At night, my apartment usually has one 10w light bulb on to light the area I am in.